Governments and traders spent Monday assessing the energy fallout from the expanding war involving Iran, as disruption around the Strait of Hormuz renewed fears over one of the world’s most important oil corridors. Since the conflict began on Feb. 28, tanker traffic through the strait has largely stalled, raising concern that a prolonged interruption could restrict supply well beyond the…
Warner Bros. Discovery said it will briefly reopen discussions with Paramount Skydance after receiving a seven-day waiver from Netflix under the terms of Warner’s existing merger agreement. The waiver is intended to let Warner’s board address what it described as unresolved shortcomings in Paramount Skydance’s earlier proposals and to determine whether a revised offer can be clarified and made actionable…
Wendy’s said it will shut several hundred restaurants in the United States as it tries to reverse a sharper-than-expected sales decline. The company reported that global same-store sales at locations open at least a year fell 10% in the October–December quarter, a steeper decline than the 8.5% decline analysts surveyed by FactSet expected. U.S. same-store sales fell further in the…
Global cocoa markets have eased sharply from last year’s extremes, but the pullback is coming after an unusually volatile period for the commodity that underpins most chocolate. Cocoa futures had more than doubled in 2024 amid insufficient rainfall and crop disease across West Africa, which supplies more than 70% of the world’s cocoa, according to reporting and market analysis cited…
McDonald’s said its renewed emphasis on affordability helped pull customers back in the final months of 2025, delivering a stronger-than-expected quarter on both sales and earnings. Global comparable sales, measured at restaurants open at least a year, rose 5.7% in the October–December period, above Wall Street’s 3.9% expectation tracked by FactSet.In the United States, comparable sales increased 6.8%, supported by…
U.S. employers added 130,000 jobs in January, exceeding economists’ expectations even as the broader labor market has shown signs of cooling over recent months, according to the U.S. Labor Department. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.3% from 4.4% in December, supported by an increase in the number of people reporting they were employed and a decline in those counted…
The Coca-Cola Company reported stronger demand in the fourth quarter of 2025 despite higher pricing, pointing to a modest pickup in North America after several softer quarters. Global unit case volume rose 1% for the quarter, with gains led by markets including the U.S., Japan, and Brazil, according to reporting and the company’s earnings materials. In North America, Coca-Cola said…
